A pirate, a swan and a golden goose
by Rhiannon-Bridget
Summary: "Everyone has a true love Emma. I know a spell that will lead you to your true love." Tink smiled at that. "Would you like to know who he is?"... A night out at the rabbit turns into the adventure of a lifetime for Emma when the fated offer is made. /CaptainSwan pairing with mention of snowing and outlaw queen.


Regina had changed a lot in the past year since Pan's fated curse had ripped everyone back to the Enchanted Forest and had left a woodsy wasteland where Storybrooke had once so majestically stood, nestled in the serene valley of Maine. It seemed that finding Robin, her true love, had mellowed the evil queen out for the better. To the point that now, she rather uneasily, considered herself one of the good guys. If you had told Emma sixteen months ago, she'd be sitting at the rabbit hole with the woman, tossing back shots while they badly sung drunken karaoke songs at that same woman's bachelorette party, Emma would have made sure they had a nice, soft, padded room for you at the state funny farm.

Yet here she was, doing just that. Regina was 2 days away from marrying Robin, whom she had stumbled across upon their return to the Enchanted Forest, and she couldn't be happier... That much was painfully obvious to anyone within a forty five mile radius of her. She was constantly smiling, laughing even, and chirped excitedly to anyone that would stand still long enough to listen to her. Poor Tom Clark A.K.A Sneezy who owned the dark star pharmacy had found that out the hard way.

The wedding was going to be a huge affair, a wedding fit for a queen, no pun intended there. Regina and Robin had invited everyone in town, mostly because most everyone was friends with Robin, who had one of those infectious personalities, and no one who met the man could argue that he wasn't just the nicest guy they'd met, the whole 'robbing from the rich and giving to the poor' thing aside, which Emma sort of had to admit she respected. She stole for herself whereas Robin stole to give other, less fortunate, people a chance to eat or have a roof over their head for another week. If only Emma and Neal had ever been so thoughtful.

Emma wasn't overly familiar of the particular's of how, when or why this relationship had come to be. Dealing with the green skinned bitch from Oz, regaining her lost memory with the aid of a hotter than hell, handsy, leather-clad pirate and dealing with the shaky reunion with her ex and being rejoined with her parents who she had forgotten she even knew, had left precious little time to even eat or go to the bathroom let alone have girl- talk with Regina.

Now that all of the previously mentioned issues had been addressed and dealt with accordingly, the wedding plans had gone ahead, everything was all sat in place and now the girls were all enjoying a well-deserved night out. To Emma's startled amazement she had realised she was in fact, having the time of her life. Even though the Rabbit Hole had smelt of a mixture of the tangy, bitter and musky scent of alcohol mixed with the sandal woodsy smell of floor polish (the wooden dance floor had been re-polished the day before) and the pungent smell of sweaty bodies crammed so close together in such a small space, the smell had quickly gone unnoticed as the girls had gotten drunker, the more shots they had slammed back.

It was nearing one am Emma noticed, chancing a glance up at the clock that hang over the bar. Her head was swimming now, a mixture of the alcohol she had consumed and the faint cloud of cigarette smoke that hung in the air around them. Belle, who had hardly drunk a thing tonight and who kept shifting awkwardly had obviously reached the end of her rope here. "This place brings back bad memories for me." She said in her soft voice.

Mary Margaret looked sympathetic and reached over the table, patting the other woman's hand in a gesture of support. Regina, Emma noticed, had the decency to look embarrassed and ashamed. Well hell, Robin really HAD changed her. Emma was sure the memories that Belle mentioned was when she had been shot in the shoulder by Hook, stumbling over the town line and forgetting everything she was and everyone she knew. Regina had then forced Belle to live with false memories of being a ridiculously dressed bar fly called Lacey who spent all her time in this bar getting drunk, playing bad music on the jukebox, hustling at pool and making out with creepy drunks.

Emma was impressed Belle had come out at all tonight. Though Emma strongly suspected it had something to do with the fact that she didn't want to be alone in that shack above the town library that she now called home. Much had changed for everyone in this town in 14 or so months. Emma's mom had just had a new baby. (A brother for Emma which was just... Odd at 30)

Archie had gotten together with the Blue Fairy (who the hell had seen that one coming?!), Ruby had somehow managed to get a relationship going with Whale which both disturbed Emma but made her happy that her friend was happy, Regina (well we all knew what happened there), Tinkerbell had gotten her wings back (and Emma suspected had help get Hook to this world to get Emma) but Belle had copped a lot. Emma truly felt for Belle because she had nothing good come from any of this. She was now a single woman all over again.

She had witnessed Gold (or Rumpel if you'd rather) die to save them all from Pan. Then the curse had come and taken them all away. Belle had to deal with that grief, that pain and loss. But then he'd returned but not in the way she had wanted. The wicked witch had his dagger (god only knew how the hell she'd gotten it) and had used him, controlled him, made him do her will. And it had been bad, real bad.

Emma didn't want to event think about the damage, mayhem and carnage that had come from that alliance. There had been debris, destruction, the breakdown of family units, broken hearts, relationships forever and irrevocably torn to shreds and even deaths. Emma didn't even want to think about the lives that had been sacrificed in securing the safety of the town and it's patrons from the clutches of the witch and Rumpel. Emma wondered if he knew what he was doing and had fought, uselessly from spitting nasty things to Belle, or had it been like he was possessed? Was he going to wake up with no recollection of events that had transpired

Or then again, the third possibility which, if you asked Emma, wasn't the case, was that Rumpel had in fact meant every harsh word that had passed his lips. Emma could believe the things he'd said about Regina, her parents, Hook and even Emma herself but she doubted he could ever mean the nasty and hurtful things he'd said about Neal, his son that he'd fought so hard to reunite with, and Belle, the one person he supposedly truly loved.

The point being that after all of it Belle had been so hurt and broken to the point Emma sincerely doubted that Belle would ever be able to forgive him. Maybe Belle would never be faced with that problem though. The truth of it was that, after the showdown in the middle of Main Street, no one knew what had happened to Rumpel and the witch. (Emma still wasn't sure what her name was) All they knew was that as her father, David, had thrown his sword, a black cloud of smoke had enveloped the pair and they'd disappeared. Emma was reluctant, after Rumpel disappearing in the same manner as Pan only to return with the witch, to call the man dead. He had a knack for keeping himself alive.

So it was entirely possible they were both hiding somewhere, either in another realm or hidden somewhere in this one, biding their time, planning their next move and gathering their strength to strike. Emma was confident that it was going to all hit the fan soon enough. She desperately wanted everyone to be ready but her parents firmly believed when (or should she say IF) that time came then they'd be prepared. Her parents also felt the wedding was a perfect idea. It gave people something else to think about. A happy occasion to bring everyone together. Emma wasn't sure that they should let their guard down quite so easily but she let it slide. Regina deserved some light in her life after so long being angry, evil and living with only hate to sustain her.

Emma was pulled from her inner ramblings to the sound of Regina's voice. "We could all go back to my house." She offered slowly. It was only one am after all and Emma, who hadn't been out in god knew how long, wasn't exactly ready to call it a night either. She saw her mother shift and Emma knew that she wanted to go and get her baby from Grannies. However at the insistence of Ruby, along with the assertion the baby was fine and if he wasn't Granny would call, Mary Margaret finally relented and the women all stood and on wobbly legs, in fits of giggles, all headed to Regina's house.

Henry was at Grannies too and Robin was having his bachelor party with the boys on Hook's ship the Jolly Roger and they were all planning to sleep wherever they hell they passed out drunk on the ship so the girls didn't need to be quiet as they entered the mansion. Emma only knew about the boys party after having overhearing a conversation between her parents.

Sure she was still living with them for the moment but with the new baby, Emma and Henry, it was all a bit too much so Emma was looking for her own place, which was quite a chore considering Storybrooke didn't exactly need a rental office, each fairytale character having had a house provided for them in the original curse.

An hour later the girls found themselves sitting in the living room, scattered around the couches, armchairs and on the rug on the floor. They'd had a few more glasses of drink and were buzzing happily. "Are you excited?" Mary Margaret asked Regina, offering to try and bridge whatever distance there was between the two of them. Everyone fell quiet and looked at Regina questioningly.

"You know, I am," she told them all earnestly. "It was strange, I didn't think I was capable to love again, I had been so angry and had been filled with so much hatred that for a long time I hadn't been capable of loving someone. Henry helped me heal and helped me to remember how to love." Regina smiled and turned to face Tink, raising her glass to the fairy.

"I owe this all to you." She confessed to everyone's surprise. "If it weren't for you I would never had known that I had a true love." She said. Emma blinked at that, she was totally lost now. Emma had heard about Regina's past, about Daniel and what had happened to him, and her mothers part in it. Apparently Emma wasn't the only one who this news had confused.

"I thought Daniel was your true love?" Mary Margaret piped up and Regina smiled.

"You can have more than one." Tink interjected and Emma felt her eyebrow raise. Emma had long since felt that she didn't have one. Sure she knew she liked certain guys and certain guys liked her back, but she wasn't convinced they were true love. Emma had this feeling that as the saviour it meant she didn't get a true love. She couldn't help control the derisive snort that unwillingly passed her lips.

Emma felt all eyes swivel to turn on her and she mentally kicked herself for the outburst. She really didn't want to draw attention to herself and she REALLY didn't want everyone to know what she really felt. "What's wrong Emma?" Mary Margaret asked and Emma had to fight not to roll her eyes. This was exactly what she had been hoping to avoid. She really didn't want to get into this right now but the words tumbled out of get mouth on their own accord.

"What if some of us don't have a true love?" She said irritably. Mary Margaret got tears in her eyes and reached to hold Emma. She opened her mouth to speak but whatever she was about to say was interrupted by Tink.

"Everyone has a true love Emma. I know a spell that will lead you to your true love." Tink smiled at that. "Would you like to know who he is?"

Emma didn't know. Did she want to find out who he was? What if he wasn't someone she liked? What if he was better than her? What if she didn't deserve him? What if she was better than him? What if HE didn't deserve HER? "You're over-thinking it." Regina interrupted her thoughts and Emma glared up at her.

"Go on..." Mary Margaret encouraged. Emma worried her lip between her teeth as she pondered the offer. Finally curiosity (and perhaps the burning need to finally know for sure that she had a true love) won out. Emma nodded her agreement. Tink beamed and stood up, pulling out her green, twisty stick of metal that was her wand. She wandered over to Emma and muttered the spell, using her magic (and fairy dust Emma noticed) to seal the spell.

For a moment Emma felt nothing, her heart sinking at the realisation that she had been right all along but then it happened. A glittery gold light left her body and left the house, making a trail. Emma pushed herself shakily to her feet and went to Regina's front door, pulling it open. She took a deep steadying breath.

Emma could feel the others crowd around her and she braced her hand on the doorframe. Was it too much to ask to do this on her own? She wanted to learn who her true love was on her own without the ever watchful and nosey (if not well meaning) presence of the others. Emma looked over her shoulder at the others and held up her hand to them. "Please, I need to do this on my own." She told them. Mary Margaret looked hurt and reluctant but at a sharp look from Ruby she smiled and nodded.

"I better head home anyway." She replied and Emma was thankful she wasn't going to press the matter further. Emma then turned her attention to the gold trail before and she sucked in a deep breath again, squaring her shoulders and stealing her nerves. "Follow the yellow brick road." She muttered, a poor attempt at humour given recent events.

She took the first step toward her true love and then in moments she had set a steady pace. After a few minutes of walking she realised where the trail was heading and she frowned. She was headed for the docks, upon hearing to raucous cries of the drunk boys she smiled, so he was friends with Robin? That was cool. She wondered who it could be. His friend little john wasn't a bad looking guy, bit thick though so Emma quickly dismissed him.

She walked onto the ship, weaving between the drunk men and smiled. Some were chanting old songs she'd never heard before. Some were playing a game that looked like chess set up on crates, some were play fighting (she hoped) and some were passed out drunk on the deck of the ship, bottles of whatever they had been drinking, slipping through their sleepy fingers.

It wasn't hard for Emma to slip past the men unnoticed. She wasn't even sure that the boys that were still awake even knew where THEY were. Emma chuckled softly and continued on her trail. Stopping dead in her tracks, Emma realised where she was. She was standing in the doorway to the captains cabin. The gold light twinkled as it continued into the room, almost as if beckoning her in.

The trail ended in a shimmering pool of gold at his feet. Emma stared, in comprehensively at the sharp, pointed toed, leather boots for a few moments. Slowly, agonisingly slow, Emma dragged her hazel eyes upward. She took in the long, leather clad legs, the trim waist, toned back hidden under the red leather vest. He wasn't wearing his leather coat which allowed Emma to see the black, billowy undershirt he wore. He had his arm up over his head as he leaned against the window, the silver metal of the hook glinted as the moonlight caught it. Emma watched as he slowly lifted his heavily ringed hand, bringing his hip flask to his lips and took a long draught of the drink (obviously rum knowing him).

Time seemed to freeze, the world seemed to slip away and it was almost as though everything in the world ceased to exist and everything tunnelled to him. Emma blinked, taking a moment for her brain to catch up to her eyes and process the scene in front of her. When it all fell clicked into place, not unlike picking a lock she could almost hear the click of the lock catching, Emma clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the gasp that threatened to leave her lips. It was all too sudden. Too much of a shock. Too big a surprise. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe she knew all along. Hook. Hook, was her true love. She needed time to process this.

She turned and fled.


End file.
